Tag: B.J. Penn

Georges St. Pierre: I Know Josh Koscheck Better Than Ever Now

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse ExclusiveGeorges St. Pierre won’t lie, he didn’t exactly have a great time filming season 12 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which premieres Wednesday night on Spike TV.

Don’t misunderstand him, he’s glad he went through it, he …

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Georges St. Pierre won’t lie, he didn’t exactly have a great time filming season 12 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which premieres Wednesday night on Spike TV.

Don’t misunderstand him, he’s glad he went through it, he said. He’s also glad that it’s over. While some fighters dislike the reality show coaching gig because it takes them away from home and disrupts their normal routine, for St. Pierre the problem wasn’t so much the atmosphere as the company.

“I was with Josh Koscheck, so that was hard,” the UFC welterweight champ told MMA Fighting. “He’s very arrogant and I don’t like to be close to this guy. But I didn’t have a choice. It was a few weeks where I had to be there close to him.”

But while being alongside the brash challenger made St. Pierre’s coaching job considerably more irritating, there were some upsides to being forced to see Koscheck’s smirking mug in the gym.

Ross Pearson Heaps Praise on Frankie Edgar

Since Frankie Edgar cruised to another Unanimous Decision victory over long-time, lightweight king, BJ Penn last month, a collective ‘he IS that effin good’ has fired throughout the MMA world. Of course, after Frankie took out BJ the first time, many observers of the sport remained somewhat unconvinced of Edgar’s standing, but now the Jersey […]

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Since Frankie Edgar cruised to another Unanimous Decision victory over long-time, lightweight king, BJ Penn last month, a collective ‘he IS that effin good’ has fired throughout the MMA world. Of course, after Frankie took out BJ the first time, many observers of the sport remained somewhat unconvinced of Edgar’s standing, but now the Jersey fighter’s bandwagon is filling up with plenty of hop-ons and deservedly so.

For example, in a recent interview with Fighters Only Magazine, Ross Pearson talked in length about recent training sessions he’s had with the lightweight champ, and the British lightweight was obviously pretty damn impressed with Edgar’s game.

“I think Frankie is the kind of guy who is very scrappy, he has great wrestling, great foot speed, I think he can hold it for a while,”…“We did a good eight rounds and I enjoyed it. Like I say to everyone, you have to find [your opponent’s] weaknesses and exploit them but it was hard to find a weakness with Frankie. He had good stand-up, good footwork and his takedowns are unbelievable.”

Yeah, we’re thinking BJ would probably agree with the summary above, after all, until Penn ran into Edgar, we were all debating about when would be the appropriate time to officially unveil the ‘Congrats on Cleaning Out the Division’ banner. How the times have changed…Pearson is of course taking on Cole Miller at next week’s UFC Fight Night, which should be a fantastic bout—to bet head here.

Gray Maynard Doesn’t Expect Any Trash Talking with Frankie Edgar

If someone had told you six months ago, that in September, people would be discussing whether or not Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II is a marketable championship fight, many of us would have laughed and told buddy to piss off.  Really, following BJ Penn’s violent and bloody stoppage of Diego Sanchez last December, who could […]

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If someone had told you six months ago, that in September, people would be discussing whether or not Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard II is a marketable championship fight, many of us would have laughed and told buddy to piss off.  Really, following BJ Penn’s violent and bloody stoppage of Diego Sanchez last December, who could have imagined that as 2010 neared its end, not only would Penn not be the champ, he’d be one or two wins away from contending? That’s some crazy sh-t. Kind of like Fedor getting tapped out in the first round…

In terms of whether or not a rematch between Edgar and Maynard can move some serious PPV’s, well, yes, clearly neither guy has put together the resume yet of a legend like Penn, so things might cool down in the hype department. And don’t expect Maynard to engage in any Chael Sonnen like, ‘deconstructive criticism’ with Edgar to help sell the fight. Speaking to MMA Weekly recently the bruising wrestler stated:

“It’s great competition. He trains hard. He’s a cool guy too. It’s cool because his dad is always like ‘hey Gray!’ talks to me and stuff; nicest guy in the world. So trash talk ain’t gonna happen,” Maynard said. “But I guarantee you he’s going to train hard, and I’ll train, and it’s going to be a good fight.”…”It’s all business. Throw the trash talk out, it’s just all business.”

So as it looks now, scandalous comments aren’t going to be flying between these guys (and clearly Dad jokes are out), but that doesn’t mean the rematch can’t be a thoroughly entertaining and violent affair.

MMA Top 10 Lightweights: Edgar Is the Best, Maynard on His Heels

Filed under: DREAM, UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, LightweightsNo one can doubt Frankie Edgar anymore.

After Edgar beat B.J. Penn by unanimous decision in April, a lot of people believed that the fight was a fluke, that the judges erred, and that Penn wa…

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No one can doubt Frankie Edgar anymore.

After Edgar beat B.J. Penn by unanimous decision in April, a lot of people believed that the fight was a fluke, that the judges erred, and that Penn was still the best lightweight in mixed martial arts. But now that Edgar has defeated Penn once again at UFC 118, there’s no room for debate: Edgar is the undisputed champion.

Except that Edgar has one loss on his record, and that one loss is to Gray Maynard, who has been anointed the next challenger to Edgar’s title. Maynard could make a case that he deserves to be considered the top fighter in the division, but unless he makes that case again in the cage, I’m sticking with Edgar at No. 1. The rest of the rankings are below.

Falling Action: Best and Worst of UFC 118

Filed under: UFCThe UFC’s grand James Toney experiment is over, according to Dana White. Whether it was a success or not depends on the hypothesis you started with, but unless you happen to be Toney or one of his hype men, chances are you saw this comi…

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The UFC’s grand James Toney experiment is over, according to Dana White. Whether it was a success or not depends on the hypothesis you started with, but unless you happen to be Toney or one of his hype men, chances are you saw this coming.

But while this fight was undoubtedly a sideshow attraction from the very beginning, it did have some benefits. For one, it got some attention from the types of fans and media who might not otherwise have cared about this card. It seems a little doubtful that they all became instant converts upon seeing Gray Maynard lay on top of Kenny Florian, but who knows.

The important thing is that the opportunity to have a famous boxer compete on MMA’s biggest stage finally presented itself, then refused to stop presenting itself, then mumbled some absurd, semi-coherent threats at everyone within earshot, and then the UFC finally made it happen. Now that we’ve done it, let’s not do it again until we find someone willing to put in the work and take it seriously.

Now on to the big winners, losers, and everything in between from UFC 118.

The MMA Wrap-Up: Post-UFC 118 Edition

Filed under: UFCAfter an interesting night of fights in Boston, the MMA Wrap-Up returns to break down UFC 118 and ask, in its own whimsical style, will MMA fans finally recognize Frankie Edgar as the world’s best lightweight after his domination of B.J…

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After an interesting night of fights in Boston, the MMA Wrap-Up returns to break down UFC 118 and ask, in its own whimsical style, will MMA fans finally recognize Frankie Edgar as the world’s best lightweight after his domination of B.J. Penn?

You’d think that would be an easy question, since Edgar just won his second straight fight over the top-ranked 155-pounder. But if we’ve learned anything from message boards and comment sections, it’s that nothing is ever that simple when dealing when Penn and his passionate fans.

Join me for that conversation, as well as a few obligatory shots at James Toney, in this week’s post-UFC 118 MMA Wrap-Up.